About the Book

Readers of Global Gender Research will learn to compare and contrast feminist concerns globally, gain familiarity with the breadth of gender research, and understand the national contexts that produced it.

This volume provides an in-depth comparative picture of the current state of feminist sociological gender and women's studies research in four regions of the world—Africa, Asia, Latin America/the Caribbean, and Europe—as represented by many countries. The introductory essay to each region explains how social science research on women and/or gender issues has been shaped by economics, politics, and culture, and by trends that are simultaneously local, regional, and global. It familiarizes readers with the wide range of salient issues, research methods, writing styles, and leading authors from around the globe.

Each regional section includes several chapters on gender research in specific countries that represent the region's diversity and cover the major theoretical and empirical trends that have emerged over time, as well as the relationship of key research questions to feminist activism and women’s or gender studies. Next, the editors illustrate this new wave of gender scholarship with translated/reprinted samples of research articles from additional countries in the region, that cover a wide range of important global topics—such as work, sexuality, masculinities, childcare and family issues, religion, violence, law and gender policies. Finally, this volume provides scholars with extensive bibliographies and a listing of web sites for women’s and gender research centers in 85 countries.

Reviews

"Global Gender Research offers an extraordinary and wide-ranging collection of feminist sociological inquiries around the world. A great choice for undergraduate classrooms and a useful reference for any feminist academic."

–Rhacel Parreñas, American Civilization, Brown University

"Bose and Kim have skillfully woven together a collection of essays of breathtaking scope to provide an overview of contemporary cutting edge gender research in the social sciences from around the globe. The volume is certain to be of interest to a wide range of social scientists, women’s rights activists, students, and others engaged with women’s rights concerns."

—Aili Mari Tripp, Political Science and Gender & Women's Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

"This excellent edited collection captures the vibrancy and range of contemporary gender research by foregrounding the diversity of women’s lives, the complexity of gendered struggles, and collective accomplishments of women activists fighting for social, economic, and political justice in very different contexts."

—Nancy A. Naples, Sociology and Women’s Studies, University of Connecticut

"…the resulting complexity provides richness and depth that many other books on research and gender studies lack. …The editors hoped to produce a volume that would 'help transform the social science disciplines and women's studies by truly bringing international native/indigenous gender scholarship to the United States, as well as other countries' (p. xiii). There is doubt that their goal has been met in this book's comprehensive and unique examination of social science research and its relation to women's and gender studies on a global level."

—Kelly Barrick, Feminist Collections Volume 31, Number 3, Summer 2010

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface and Acknowledgements

Table of Contents

Map

Introduction to Global Gender Research

Christine E. Bose and Minjeong Kim

The major commonalities and differences in gender research across the globe are described, while also examining the social structures that help shape research questions

AFRICA

Introduction to African Gender Research

Mary Johnson Osirim, Christine E. Bose and Minjeong Kim

An overview on how political, social, and economic trends shape gender research across the African continent

The underlying themes of local-global interaction and "discipline building" link the growth of both women’s studies and the sociology of women/gender.

The Study of Gender in India: A Partial Review

Bandana Purkayastha, Mangala Subramaniam,

Manisha Desai, and Sunita Bose

Focusing on theory, methods, social movements and domestic violence, the authors review dynamics of doing research in a diverse country.

Women’s Studies in Iran: The Roles of Activists and Scholars

Shahla Ezazi

Women’s Studies was recently established by a decree of the Ministry of Higher Education, but activists and NGOs are more likely to be in touch with new global gender research.

Hegemonic Masculinity and Conscription: Focusing on the Masculinity of KATUSA (Korean Augmentation To the U.S. Army)

Insook Kwon

Elite Korean soldiers’ ideas on masculinity are shaped through their interactions with U.S. counterparts and by masculinity models found among regular Korean military conscripts.

Gender, Development and HIV/AIDS in Vietnam: Towards an Alternative Response Model among Women Sex Workers

Van Huy Nguyen, Udoy Sankar Saikia and Thi Minh An Dao

Addressing gender and development issues adequately is key to combating the spread of HIV/AIDS in Vietnam, especially among sex workers.

Fufubessei Movement in Japan:

Thinking About Women’s Resistance and Subjectivity

Ki-young Shin

Women who want to keep their own family names at marriage are having an impact on revising family law, even though they do not organize like a traditional social movement.

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Between the Dynamics of the Global and the Local: Feminist and Gender Research in Latin America and the Caribbean

Edna Acosta-Belén

An overview on how political, social, and economic trends shape gender research across Latin America and the Caribbean

Relations in Dispute: Conflict and Cooperation Between Academia and the Feminist Movements in Central America

Montserrat Sagot and Ana C. Escalante

Academic-activist linkages are key to understanding the themes in Central American gender research on topics including human rights, violence against women, citizenship, political participation, economic inequality, gendered identities, masculinities, and migration.

Puerto Rico: Feminism and Feminist Studies

Alice E. Colón Warren

Common gender research themes include women’s employment, poverty, family violence, and sexual and reproductive rights, with growing interest in the intersectionalities of gender, race, nation, class and sexuality.

Gender Studies in Cuba: Methodological Approaches, 1974-2007

Marta Núñez Sarmiento

Gender studies began only in the late 1980s, but researchers learned from the mistakes of others; various methodological approaches are described for a sample of researchers.

Feminist Research and Theory: Contributions from the Anglophone Caribbean

Rhoda Reddock

Early emphasis on finding the local roots of feminism and describing women’s realities shifted to a more recent focus on cultural studies.

Women’s Rights in Trade Union Organizations in Argentina

Graciela Di Marco

Unionized workers in traditional and progressive unions are trying to move from a "specific structures" to a "main structure" model with the help of a union female quota law.

In the Fabric of Brazilian Sexuality

Maria Luiza Heilborn

Survey research on youth reveals gender differences and myths about liberal sexual attitudes.

Citizenship and Nation: Debates on Reproductive Rights in Puerto Rico

Elizabeth Crespo-Kebler

Feminists and nationalists created different discourses about citizenship, as illustrated in organizing around abortion and sterilization abuse.

EUROPE

Introduction to European Gender Research

Christine E. Bose and Minjeong Kim

An overview on how political, social, and economic trends shape gender research across Europe

Traveling Theories-Situated Questions: Feminist Theory in the German Context

Gudrun-Axeli Knapp

Feminist scholars in German-speaking Europe have developed a strong focus on feminist socio-historical theory, with a trajectory influenced by National Socialism, the unification of East and West Germany, and by broader European Union events; currently they are shifting from gender-class axes to a focus on the intersectionality of gender, class, race, sexuality and nation.

An Overview of Research on Gender in Spanish Society

Celia Valiente

In the post-Franco era, gender studies has been shaped by feminist activism and state funding for research; and important themes include families, education, work, politics, sexuality, and men.

At the Crossroads of ‘East’ and ‘West’: Gender Studies in Hungary

Eva Fodor and Eszter Varsa

Gender studies has many similarities with other former state socialist countries, but there are also differences in disciplines, institutionalization, the power of feminist NGOs, and other features.

‘The Rest is Silence…’: Polish Nationalism and the Question of Lesbian Existence

Joanna Mizielińska

Polish nationalistic discourse avoids the question of homosexuality and makes it invisible, largely due to the Church’s role in the decline of communism, as shown in analyses of the Catechism and the new Polish Constitution.

Collective Organizing and Claim Making on Child Care in Norden: Blurring the Boundaries between the Inside and the Outside

Solveig Bergman

Nordic countries use a combination of insider and outsider strategies to achieve child care support, but they vary in their usage of home care vs. institutional support, and in how they support paternity leave.

Integrating or Setting the Agenda? Gender Mainstreaming in the European Constitution-Making Process

Emanuela Lombardo

Competing frames, norm-setting, and male-dominated institutions are reasons for resistance to adopting gender norms in the EU constitution-making process, thus shifting to an agenda setting approach.

A1. Websites of International Women’s Research Centers

A2. Contributors

A3. Reprint Permission List

A4. Index

About the Series

Perspectives on Gender represents the very best feminist scholarship on gender in the social sciences. The books in the series advance the understanding of how inclusive of difference our perspectives need to be to capture what gender means and emphasize the important role of social change in and for gender relations.